[Sp. estufa, heated room, vapor bath, corresp. to It. stufa, OF. estuve (mod.F. étuve); of Teut. origin: cf. OHG. stupa (Ger. stube room): see STOVE.] An underground chamber, in which a fire is kept constantly burning; used by the Pueblo Indians of Spanish North America as a place of assembly.
1875. Parkman, in N. Amer. Rev., CXX. 45. One or more estufas, or subterranean chambers … where the men of the community meet for social, deliberative, and religious purposes.
1876. L. H. Morgan, ibid. CXXIII. 83. Circular estufas found in connection with the New Mexican pueblos. Ibid. (1881), in Contrib. Amer. Ethnol., 148. The regular time for meeting in the estufa is the last day of December.
